Monday, January 16, 2017

Nevermind Review (XONE)

In the not too distant future world of Nevermind the best
way to treat psychological trauma survivors is to venture deep into their mind
through the use of technology to unravel the tangled web of memories that lie
at the root of the patient’s current problems.
Digging into someone’s dark past isn’t a pleasant experience, however,
and oftentimes their mind will fight back against treatment in terrifying
ways. That is the fascinating concept
behind this new puzzle / horror / walking sim for Xbox One. We have all of the details here in our full
Nevermind review.

I think it is important to note that Nevermind was
originally released on PC and Mac as a game that relied on biofeedback to
enhance the experience. In other words,
the game would change based on how calm or scared you were. That technology isn’t available for Xbox
One, and the developer (probably wisely) opted not to try to make use of Kinect
as a half-assed method of replicating it.
The result is a game that is a bit flat and shallow on Xbox One and not
as scary or challenging as it potentially can be on PC or Mac. It can still be worthwhile if you are
interested in the concept and subject matter, but you won’t get the best experience
on Xbox One.

In Nevermind you play as a new doctor at The Neurostalgia
Institute. Your job is to enter the
minds of patients suffering from psychological trauma and figure out what lies
at the root of their problems. Trauma
doesn’t always manifest itself in obvious or predictable ways, though, and
oftentimes the patients obscure their trauma with false memories and
misinformation as a coping mechanism, so it is up to you to carefully explore
their mind in order to discover the truth.
I won’t say much more about the specifics of any of the cases, however,
as even general info would be a spoiler and ruin the experience.

So, how does all of this work out in actual gameplay? Nevermind is a first-person game where you
explore a virtual representation of a patient’s traumatic memories. These memories are represented as 3D worlds
such as a childhood home, city streets, forest, or other locations and, similar
to other recent horror games like The Park or Layers of Fear, the environments
will shift and change around you as you explore and pick up key items. Your objective is to find ten memories
scattered around as photos and then put five of them together, in the correct
order, that represent the trauma the patient suffered. The worlds you explore start out fairly
benign and normal, but the deeper you go and the closer to the truth you get,
the worlds start twisting and turning into dark and evil and scary things in
order to try to stop you from putting the memories together.

For the most part you’re just exploring each level to find the
pictures and there isn’t much else that is interactive, but occasionally there
will also be puzzles to solve. The
puzzles include things like placing colored rocks into bird statues or using
teacups to turn waterwheels, but there are also some great ones like in a
music-themed level where you have to play a bunch of different musical
instruments.

When you have all ten of the memory pictures in a level it
is then time to put them in order and figure out the root of the patient’s
issue. This is where the real puzzles
of Nevermind come in. As I mentioned
above, not all of the memories are real or important, however. A lot of the information that the patient
gives you either in an interview when you first start, or that you discover
while exploring their mind, is false or unimportant, but if you pay close
attention to everything you can piece together their real memory to help them
remember what really happened.

At least, that is how it is supposed to work, but I have to
admit I struggled quite a bit. One of
the cases is surprisingly straightforward and I knew exactly what the problem
was going to ultimately be almost immediately, but the other three real cases
(besides the tutorial) have many more twists and turns and figuring things out
is much harder. If you have trouble the
game will eventually start eliminating false memories for you, but you still
have to put the real ones in the right order, which isn’t always obvious. Frustration starts creeping in and you begin
to realize you’re not really having very much fun. Games don’t have to be 100% fun 100% of the time, but when a game
is as dry as Nevermind, plus it isn’t fun, it can be pretty hard to enjoy
yourself.

Other problems with the game are a little easier to
explain. There are only five cases
total – one tutorial level and four real cases – and you can easily finish the
game in two hours or so. The game does
have some collectibles tied to achievements, but you can only pick them up when
you re-play a level, not the first time, which is an annoying and artificial
way of padding the game’s content. I
also have to say the game isn’t really very scary, though that likely has more
to do with the lack of biofeedback support than anything. There is some great creepy imagery and the
sound design is awesome and gives the game a great atmosphere, but you’re never
in any danger and nothing scary really happens. I was hoping for more scary stuff, but considering you’re
exploring the minds of normal people in Nevermind and not serial killers and
psychos, I guess it was to be expected.

All in all, Nevermind is a great concept that is actually
executed quite well, but in terms of a videogame that you’re going to play for
enjoyment it falls short of the mark.
It isn’t especially fun nor does it showcase pretty visuals or great
characters – things I usually look for in walking sims – so it is a lot harder
to recommend than some other games in the genre I’ve played on Xbox One over
the last year. With that said, if you
have more than just a passing interest in psychiatry and mental illness
Nevermind is an interesting look at a few different types of cases and perhaps
even a glimpse at the future of real treatment. Nevermind won’t be a game for everyone, but it might still be
worth a look if the concept catches your interest.